What's Happening

The Rev. Dr. Mary Kay Totty, pastor of Dumbarton United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., is passionate about using her artistic abilities to co-create with God. That’s what art symbolizes for her – a weaving of creativity and theology. And that is what ultimately led her to Wesley and its Doctor of Ministry in Arts and Theology degree program.

“Part of the way we are made in the image of God is to be creative,” Totty said. “In a society that calls us to be passive observers of life, there is something radical about creating something or engaging with people face to face.”

As members of Dumbarton United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., we hear God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ calling us to love our neighbors, accompany the vulnerable and welcome the stranger. Moreover, the Social Principles of the United Methodist Church (2016) enjoins us to “recognize, embrace and affirm all persons, regardless of country of origin, as members of the family of God.” We therefore affirm that God’s love is not apportioned by nationality, religion, race or creed, but rather flows extravagantly to all. More than 65 million people are currently displaced worldwide, more than during WWII. The United States has an urgent moral and legal responsibility to open its doors to receive these refugees and asylum seekers.

We decry President Trump’s cruel February 3rd executive order trapping travelers and thwarting those fleeing violence in war-torn countries.

Rev. Mary Kay Totty's statement about refugees during the church service:

Leviticus 19: 33-34 states “Do not mistreat foreigners who reside in your land. The foreigner who lives among you must be treated like one of your own. Love them as you love yourself, for you too were a foreigner in the land of Egypt.”
In the gospels, we find Jesus reaching out to the Samaritan woman, healing a Centurian’s child, and being persuaded to change his mind by a Syro-phoenecian woman.